FILE PHOTO: Boxing Mike Tyson. Joe Scarnici/Handout Photo via USA TODAY Sports
Former heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson is being sued by a woman who says he raped her about 30 years ago, multiple outlets reported.
The woman filed the suit in Albany, N.Y., earlier this month, but it only came to light this week. She is seeking $5 million in damages.
The unnamed plaintiff said Tyson offered to give her a ride to an Albany-area party in his limousine. During the ride, she charged, Tyson kissed her and pulled her pants off, despite her asking him to stop, and then “violently raped” her, Sports Illustrated reported.
Despite allegations that are three decades old, the woman filed suit under New York’s Adult Survivors Act, which was enacted last May and gave those who say they have been the victim of a sexual assault one year to file lawsuits in old cases. Her lawsuit doesn’t specify the exact date of the alleged attack, only that it occurred in the early 1990s.
Tyson, 56, was convicted of rape in an Indianapolis case in February 1992. Sentenced to six years, he served less than three before being paroled.
According to Sports Illustrated, the woman in the Albany case contends in her filing that, because of the alleged assault, she has “experienced feelings of guilt, loss of self-respect, shame, embarrassment, sadness, anger, depression, anxiety, violent tendencies, drug and alcohol addiction and confusion.”
Also, she said she has “been unable to maintain and/or develop healthy relationships with men or anyone in general” and has “experienced extreme emotional suffering including but not limited to nightmares, panic attacks and flashbacks.”